Silas knelt with his brethren, relying on his own innocence being certified by immediate divine interference, but feeling that there was sorrow and mourning behind for him even then--that his trust in man had been cruelly bruised.

_The lots declared that Silas Marner was guilty._ He was solemnly suspended from church-membership, and called upon to render up the stolen money: only on confession, as the sign of repentance, could he be received once more within the folds of the church.

Marner listened in silence.
At last, when everyone rose to depart, he went towards William Dane and said, in a voice shaken by agitation-- "The last time I remember using my knife, was when I took it out to cut a strap for you.

I don't remember putting it in my pocket again.
_You_ stole the money, and you have woven a plot to lay the sin at my door.

But you may prosper, for all that: there is no just God that governs the earth righteously, but a God of lies, that bears witness against the innocent." There was a general shudder at this blasphemy.
William said meekly, "I leave our brethren to judge whether this is the voice of Satan or not.